Dear Kids,
We found a really great deal on airfare from Austin to Ontario via Frontier Airlines, so we decided to go visit southern California. We were able to explore Disneyland, San Diego, and Lego Land in Carlsbad.
Tuesday Morning, we all got up early to catch the flight. I had made you guys these shirts a few weeks ago, thinking that the weather was going to be in the upper 60's. But no, forecast predicted weather in the low 80's. So, I had you all wear your shirts on the trip from Austin to Anaheim.
So with 3 carseats, 2 backpacks, and 1 suitcase, we made it work. Packed clothes for 4 days and planned to do laundry once. Hailey did great on the flight.
When we arrived, we stopped by a Taiwanese restaurant for some snacks and then we checked in early to Homewood Suites right by the Disney resort. Let me tell you, this place ended up being such a great pick (Thanks, Dan!) because 1. They offered us free breakfast AND dinner with free beer and wine on the days we were there. (This saved us SO much money) and 2. It's located right next to a Disney parking lot, so there were free shuttles that took you straight to the park. (We didn't figure this out until the second day). and 3) They are suite rooms, which means no hanging out in the bathroom while the kids fall asleep.
We didn't have anything planned for the day we arrived, which on hindsight, we should've got another Disney park ticket for that day, but it's always fun to explore and take advantage of the cool things at the hotel like mini-golf.
It was borderline cool, but you two wanted to go swimming.
Hailey and the parents just hung out by the pool.
The next day we arrived at Disneyland! The girls dressed up in their princess dresses.
But by lunch time, both dresses came off, due to a diaper blow out, and it being too hot. You can probably guess what happened to which girl.
We spent the day standing in lines and getting on different rides.
Nathan really liked being able to control this one... which was surprisingly scary as the rocket ship descended. The squeal of joy that came out of Nathan on this ride was definitely magical.
Afternoon, we let you two pick out a special treat. Of all the cool mickey mouse themed stuff you could've picked, you two picked regular popsicles. Hannah, you dropped yours, but luckily you did it in front of the vendor, and he gave you a new one. That was so nice of him.
By the afternoon, Nathan, you were tired and wanted to go back to the hotel. I never knew any kid would want to leave Disney and go back, but you were truly tired from walking around. The next day we rented a stroller for you and you could've stayed for the entire day. Lesson learned.
By the afternoon, someone was completely exhausted and conked out.
And before we left the park for the day, Hannah got to talk to Tink and take a picture with her at Pixie Hollow. Hannah's convinced that she's the real Tinkerbell and you will argue with us til this day that you met and asked the real Tinkerbell how she flies. Answer: Pixie dust, (of course!)
On our way out, Nathan got to take a picture with Goofy, and boy, is he as goofy as his name implies. Nathan, you saw him and immediately ran up to him to give him a great big hug. It was super cute.
We tried to take a family picture with Goofy, but someone threw a tantrum and didn't want to join in.
Disneyland is a big park. Even though we never had to wait more than 20 minutes in line for anything, we didn't get to do everything that we wanted to do. I think rushing around without a detailed plan really detracted from the magic, so on day 2, I had a general plan for how we were going to explore the park. That ended up being a much better experience.
So on day 2. We explored California Adventure Park. Overall this day ended up being Daddy and my favorite day. We had strollers for both of you. The park was just big enough for us to do everything in one day. And we had figured out how to take advantage of the fast pass system along with rider switch. We also figured out that you two did not like the dark and loud rides; they were too scary for you, so we avoided them.
One of the first rides that we did after exploring bugs land was the famous Radiator Springs Racers. Nathan and Daddy were able to each ride it 2 times. The wait time on this ride can get up to 2 hours. We waited about 10 minutes both times and probably could've rode it 3 times with very little wait.
Most of the time, Hailey, you just rode around in the baby carrier. Sometimes you were awake, and you fell asleep when you were tired. Sometimes you got to go on a ride with me but there were some silly rules when it came to going on rides with babies. Here are the different rules that we were told, all different at each ride:
1. She has to be awake. (But for some, you could be asleep)
2. She has to be able to sit up beside us. (but for some, you could stay in the carrier)
3. She had to wear either shoes or socks. (but for some, it was OK that you were barefoot...we lost a sock)
Here's that pose again at Buzz lightyear blasters. This was Hannah's favorite ride of the day.
This was one of Nathan's favorite rides. Bumper cars.
I didn't think you guys would like the spinny rides, but both of you really enjoyed them. They were right up your alley as far as thrill factor goes.
My favorite ride to watch. The cars were choreographed so beautifully and creatively. The cars don't move on a track or anything, so half the time, I'm just hoping that they don't crash into each other.
I loved walking through radiator springs. They did a great job making you feel like you just stepped into the movie. That was probably the most magical moment for me, standing in the middle of the street and soaking it all in.
While waiting for you all to get through with rides, I was able to spot Mater and Lightning, so I took a few selfies with them.
Hannah went on the racers, but ended up not liking it too much during the racing part because it was too fast. On the fast roller coasters, Hannah gets scared, but you don't cry and you seem to be fine afterwards, almost a little proud of yourself, but when asked if you want to go again, you quickly say, "no."
One of our favorite rides as a family was Ariel's underwater adventure. Even Nathan enjoyed it. We went on this a few times.
This is Hannah's favorite scene.
It's almost the Chinese new year, so we were lucky enough to visist Disney while they had a special program.
At the end of the day, we got on Goofy's Sky School. This was another one of Nathan's favorite ride of the day. We got to ride it twice. Score!
On the third day, we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed towards San Diego. Hailey was not doing so great in the car, so we stopped at a scenic point on Hwy 5. You guys went and visited the coastline so I snapped these sweet pictures of you guys while I was nursing Hailey.
I don't know where Hannah got this, but you've been doing this pose for a lot of pictures.
Our first stop was the San Diego Safari Adventure Zoo. This attraction is part of the San Diego Go card, which we purchased through Costco. We got 4 days for the price of 3, which was perfect for our itinerary. The zoo reminded me a lot of the Taipei Zoo, where there were not many cages. The cool part of the tour was the safari tram ride through "Africa." We saw giraffes, flamingos, and a camel that joined a sheep herd. We also saw zebras and rhinoceros.
There were a few cool play areas for the kids to explore, climb, and pretend.
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Yeah, Nathan, Not Cool! |
That evening we checked into our AirBnb house near Mission Bay and got some yummy Chinese Food from the Ranch Market 99 food court. Hannah, you keep saying that you like Spicy Shrimp, which you've never had before, but when you tried it, you actually liked it.
The next morning, we got up and went to visit the Birch Aquarium.
They had a cool tide pool exhibit where you could touch sea anemone, a sea hare, and sea cucumber. Nathan did not want to have anything to do with touching.
It's so close to the beach, you could see surfers through the binoculars.
Hannah was extremely excited about seeing seahorses.
Afterwards, we went to a dumpling restaurant and ordered a bunch of dumplings. It turned out one of the dumplings had peanut oil, which generally is ok with peanut allergy, but alas, Nathan reacted and the rest of the day, we just took it easy. Bought some bubble teas and returned back to the house.That evening, we ordered take-out sushi for the girls and teriyaki chicken for the boys and had a relaxing dinner at the house. Eating out with three young kids can be quite stressful.
That evening after you three went to bed, Daddy and I had a nice soak in the hot tub right outside your bedroom. It was a nice way to end a semi-stressful day.
The next morning, after breakfast we drove to Old Town and boarded the Old Town Trolley to tour downtown San Diego.
First stop: USS Midway Aircraft Carrier.
We got there just in time for the 10:00 opening time and were one of the first ones to get it. We decided to skip getting the audio tour headsets, and headed directly below deck to explore. We were pretty much the only people down there for awhile and got to talk to some pretty cool volunteers.
After the tour of the ship, we hopped back onto the trolley and headed towards Coronado Island. Ever since you two saw the shoreline on the way to San Diego, you've been begging to go to the beach, so we had bagel sandwiches for lunch and walked towards the beach just to dip our toes in the water.
But somebody didn't heed our warning when a wave came in and got soaked. Luckily we had an extra change of clothes with us and continued on our tour. Next stop: Balboa Park.
We didn't bring the stroller on this particular adventure, so half way on our walk you both started to complain and whine. We resorted to bribery to keep you two going. "Let's look for a treat stand. Keep looking..." Eventually we found a lady selling popsicles and you each picked out one.
After you both were recharged with sugar, we continued onto the science center, which kind of ended up being a bit of a disappointment (considering the amount of walking/tram riding that we had to do to get there). If you are reading this and plan on doing something similar, go to the air and space museum instead, it's actually maintained by the Smithsonian, so it should be much better (we found this out on the trolley on the way
out of Balboa park. Nonetheless, we spent about 45 minutes and you guys had fun pressing buttons.
We returned to Old town station around 5:00 and decided to pick up food from Ranch market 99 again to take back to the house. We knew it was good and it was just easier.
The next day, we checked out of our AirBnb and drove towards Carlsbad. Since Lego Land didn't open until 10, and we have mainly stayed on Texas time, we decided to make a quick beach trip in the morning to Carlsbad's warm water beach. Don't let the name fool you, the water was still pretty chilly.
We brought along some plastic containers and you guys set out to build a sand castle. I'd say it turned out pretty good. 45 minutes was the perfect amount of time to spend at the beach, so by the time you were beached out, Lego Land was about to open its doors.
Lego Land was not busy at all. We learned our lesson, so we immediately rented another stroller. We were very lucky to do all the rides that Nathan is eligible to ride, which is almost all except for 2 or 3. The longest we had to wait was maybe 15 minutes and then after lunch, we could pretty much just walk up to the front of the line.
Hannah was very excited to take a picture inside the lion's mouth, but when it started to roar, she quickly turned around and ran away.
This was Hannah's favorite ride. The safari. You went on this with grandma 2 or 3 times.
Hannah, when I asked if you wanted to try a roller coaster across from the safari, you looked super excited, clapped your hands and jumped up and down with excitement, "Yes!" So we got on the ride.
You did ok, during the ride, and lucky for us, the conductor let everyone go around the ride twice. When I got to go (using the parent switch perk) I asked you if you wanted to go again, you quickly shook your head no. It was the perfect amount of scary for you to ride it once.
We happened to come across this show as it was about to start. Lots of lip syncing and dancing, which you both enjoyed dancing along.
A cool part of the park is that there is a lego factory tour. This goes through the entire process of the making of a lego kit. It was pretty interesting.
Nathan's favorite ride was the technic roller coaster. We ended up doing this one twice. It reminded me a lot of Goofy's sky school.
We stayed until the park closed at 5. Headed to oceanside for some bubble tea and snacks and then drove towards Ontario airport. On the way, the traffic was pretty bad and then we figured out why.
It was probably a bad call to order bubble tea because we had to make 2 pitstops during a 90 minute car ride for Nathan. Hannah fell asleep, so we just put a diaper under her in case she had an accident. It ended up being a good call.
Our flight didn't leave the next morning until 11:55, and we were staying right next to the airport. So, after breakfast, you guys went swimming while I stayed in with Hailey. She took the best nap of the trip that morning.
The trip home was smooth. You two had screen time the whole trip again, and Hailey snoozed on and off. Traffic on the way home was a bit terrible, due to it being drizzly, but we made it home safely.
This trip had its fair share of stress, tantrums, and sugar. Was I glad we took this trip? Yes. Will we be taking another one of this magnitude in the near future? Probably not.
So there, documentation that we took you guys to Disney and other cool places because you probably won't remember it.
Now to unpack and get back in the swing of things.
Love,
Mommy
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